Indiana Jones and the Staff of Nostradamus
by jdLevengood
Summary: As WW1 ends, an influenza epidemic is starting to ravage the globe. Desperate to find anything that can stop it, the Allies employ Indiana Jones to search for the mystical staff of Nostradamus. It is an item that holds the ability to give its bearer the gifts of both healer, and prophet.


**November 11, 1918**

A small number of German soldiers hovered outside their base, enjoying a bottle of Bavarian lager. They were sitting on the steps of the villa, trying to hide from any officers that would want to discipline them for drinking on the job. As the November was quite cold, they were confident no one else would be coming outside to find them.

The villa their unit was occupying was currently serving as the command headquarters for the army. They had occupied it the previous week when the German army had been pushed back to its current position. Both sides had dug in for the winter, so there was no worry about being overrun by the Allies anytime soon. However, the generals were paranoid about small raiding parties making their way through the lines and staging a covert assault. They kept all their soldiers on high alert in case the Allies tried any such thing.

For the lowly privates, their time at the villa was full of boredom. Despite that, it was still paradise compared to the trenches. Waking up every day without the near certainty of death was heaven. The boredom did bother them from time to time. Thus, it was almost impossible not to take a moment to drink and chat to alleviate said boredom. Given how quiet the previous week had been, none of the soldiers outside expected anything to happen.

The soldiers were roused to action when they saw a horse galloping up the road that led to the front door of their villa. Initially, the horse looked to be absent a rider, but as it approached, they could see the rider was actually slumped over the horse's neck.

Every soldier raised their rifles in case the rider proved to be a threat. They watched patiently as the horse approached them. As it did so, they were able to recognize the German uniform of the rider. They also noticed the soldier wasn't sitting on a saddle. The horse's bridle appeared to be that of a carriage horse.

While the soldiers wondered if they were going to have to shoot the horse, it ended up stopping by itself right in front of them. They took a moment to make sure it was not going to take off again before they approached it. When they finally did, the German soldiers eyed the slumped soldier, who appeared to be unconscious. With one soldier keeping his rifle aimed at the injured man, another soldier slowly walked towards him. He nudged the man with the butt of his rifle and the injured man let out a low groan.

"Are you hurt?" the soldier asked the man.

"Yes, I was injured in battle," the man said in perfect German. The soldier questioning him took note that he spoke in an East Prussian accent. His voice was weak, but the accent was identifiable.

"Where are you injured?" the soldier asked him, wanting proof. The man on the horse moved his jacket out of the way to reveal a blood-soaked shirt. There was a tear in the shirt that the man had his hand through. He said he was putting pressure on the wound to try and keep the blood flow minimal.

The soldier saw the blood and it looked real enough for him. He called back to the soldier by the door and told him to call for the doctor. The second soldier ran to the door and yelled inside. The sound of commotion came from inside the villa as everyone started responding to the distress call.

"What happened to your unit?" the soldier tending to the injured man asked him. He knew it would take a minute for the doctor to arrive and he was curious how the man had been injured and ended up here.

"I am a colonel with the Fourth artillery platoon of the Third Army," he began. "We were a couple kilometers behind the front line, standing at the ready in case the Americans launched any attack on our front lines. What we did not expect was a small raiding party to run out of the forest and attack us. We fought valiantly, but they had the element of surprise and slaughtered us one by one. I was able to unhook this horse from its carriage right before I was stabbed with a bayonet. I pushed my attacker off me right before I mounted the horse and rode into the safety of the forest. I knew the commanders were at this villa and headed here immediately."

The German soldier was downright shaken by the man's story. Up until now, he had thought the possibility of the Americans sending out covert raiding parties behind enemy lines was just paranoid delusions. Now, he found out it was all true, and there might be a raiding party coming to this villa right now. He looked back to where the man had emerged from the woods to see if anyone had followed him. There was no sign of anyone yet.

The soldier heard a large commotion and turned to see a large contingent of his compatriots coming out of the villa. He moved out of the way so the doctor could inspect the injured man. The doctor asked where the artilleryman was injured, and the soldier pointed out the spot he had been shown. The doctor asked the artilleryman if he could move his hand and he said he was too afraid to. Right as he finished speaking, he passed out and fell off the horse. The doctor was able to grab him just in time to keep him from hitting the ground. A couple other soldiers joined in and they were able to lift him enough to carry him inside. The soldiers left outside decided to retrace the path of the horse in the hope they might be able to find this raiding party.

The doctor followed the men carrying the injured soldier as they hauled him up to the second floor. There, they had a bedroom set up as a hospital ward. They carried him inside and laid him on one of the beds. The doctor told the other soldiers to leave as he feared they would only get in the way. He patiently waited for them all to leave and then he went to work inspecting the patient.

The man was clearly passed out. It was good news for the doctor as it meant he wouldn't have a patient writhing and screaming as he tried to inspect him. He rolled the man over to look at the bloody shirt. He thought the wound couldn't be that bad as there was no blood currently gushing out anywhere. He lifted the man's shirt to take a look at the wound and was shocked to see there was not a single mark on the man's body.

Before the doctor knew what was happening, he found a pillow shoved in his face. The man who had pretended to be injured and unconscious had made a quick move to suffocate the doctor. The pillow muffled the man's screams.

As the doctor struggled to try and free himself so he could breathe, he cursed the stupid soldier's who had been fooled. The man killing him was likely an American spy pretending to be an injured German. He thought only stupid infantryman could have been fooled by an American pretending to be German.

What the doctor didn't know was that the man holding him down was no yokel. He was the son of Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. and as a child he had traveled the world with his father. He was fluent in almost ten languages and well versed in the customs and traditions of all the European countries. It was these attributes that led the American Army to place in him in their covert operations program. He had the perfect background for blending in with the Germans.

He held the pillow against the man's face until he stopped moving. Once he was sure he was dead, he left him on the bed to make sure his body didn't flop and make noise. He ran to the closed door and listened to what was happening on the other side.

He heard two soldiers out there talking about there lives back home. He made mental notes of what their voices were like and what kind of accents they had. The descriptions of where they were from gave him additional information on how they might talk and act.

Henry Jones Jr., or Indiana, as he liked to be called, had a childhood like almost no one else. His father was an archaeologist who traveled the world giving lectures. His specialty was in scholarship and being able to connect the various clues in history left by different factions and connect them into one grand story. The nobles of Europe loved to have him come and explain the heroic deeds of their ancestors.

The travels of his father gave Indiana the opportunity to explore the world. While his father loved to be wined and dined by the rich and mighty, Indiana loved to roam the cities and observe the lower classes. He often ate in dingy pubs and listened to the stories the patrons had to tell. He felt like he learned a lot more about the world then his father ever did with his books and dinner parties.

Indiana recognized the types of men who were on the other side of the door. They were young and had been conscripted to fight a war they only halfheartedly believed in. They felt lucky not to be in the trenches and took advantage of their good fortune by often drinking to excess. Indiana could hear the slight slurs in their words as they talked.

Knowing no one would think much of a slight disturbance out of two drunk soldiers, Indiana devised a plan to get past them. He looked around the room for a bottle and found one containing medicine. He dumped the contents out of it and pulled out his pistol. He put the pistol barrel inside the open bottle so it would serve as a silencer when he fired it.

Indiana kicked the door open and before the two solder's knew what was happening, he shot them both dead, using just one shot per soldier. Indiana heard some shouting from down the hallway asking what was happening. He answered in a voice similar to that of one of the soldiers. He told the man down the hall the other soldier had tried to steal his liquor and he had taught him a lesson. He shouted they were both okay.

The other man thought nothing of drunken horseplay that must have happened ten times a day in that villa. He yelled back they should work things out themselves and Indiana answered they would. When it was obvious no one was going to come check on him, Indiana dragged the bodies of the two soldiers into the ward to join the body of the doctor.

American intelligence had supplied Indy with information on the entire layout of the villa. In the town they had recently liberated, they found an old woman who had served as a loyal maid for the duchess who had previously inhabited the house. She did not believe in the German's war effort and was more then happy to give up any information which would doom their effort. In her years of servitude, she had come to know every nook and cranny of the estate. She gave the Americans a detailed description of the layout of the villa.

According to the old servant, there was a second-floor office that was elegantly decorated, large, and secure enough to serve as the general's office. Indiana's superiors believed he would have their war plans hidden in there. It was on the other side of the house and Indiana began walking there. He was apprehensive about coming across someone who would figure out he wasn't a German soldier. He passed a few other soldiers and they took little notice of him. He made his way to the office door and paused to look around and make sure no one was watching him.

The Americans had been given a key to the office by the old servant. The duchess had always kept the door locked but had given the maid a key after she had come to trust her. Since no one knew about it no one asked for it back once the servant was dismissed after the duchess's death. She handed it over when she gave them the layout of the place.

Not expecting the key to actually work, Indiana was pleasantly surprised when the key turned in the lock and he could open the door. He slipped in quickly and silently closed the door behind him. Looking around the office, he was surprised to see a safe standing out in the open. He walked over to it and started to work at cracking it.

Safe cracking was one of the few skills he did not come into the army with. He had been taught how to do it in a crash course before he was sent on this mission. He did okay, but only okay in his training. He had always been one who was aided by the rush of adrenaline, so he believed it would see him through this task. He stuck his ear against the safe and started to work, opening it in a mere minute.

There was a single file in the safe and a quick glance at it confirmed it was the battle plans they had sent him after. He looked through it just to see what it contained. Sure enough, it was what his superiors had anticipated. The Germans were planning a surprise winter offensive. He tucked the file into his uniform and listened at the door for footsteps. When he heard none, he walked outside and back down the hall.

The villa had been built with but a single staircase between floors. This was the part of the mission Indiana most feared. As he walked back to the staircase, he thought of a million ways he could be discovered and trapped. Each time he passed someone who took no notice of him, he felt a thrill of victory.

Right before he reached the grand staircase, he saw a group of soldiers across the hall running towards him. One of them pointed right at him and yelled to the others. Even if Indiana hadn't understood German, he would have known he had been discovered. As the soldiers raised their guns at him, Indy headed for the safety of the nearest room. He just made it through the door as bullets whizzed right past him.

Once he was safe inside the room, he shut the door before pushing a nearby bookcase in front of it. He was thankful the bookcase was tall enough to cover the entire door, as that would allow it to stop any bullets the soldiers tried to fire through the door. He forgot the soldiers could just fire through the wall, which some of them did. Miraculously, none of them hit him as he ran to the window. When he reached it, he had to pause for a moment as he opened it and jumped outside.

Landing safely on the ground, he looked around and was relieved to see no other soldiers had been alerted to the fact they had a spy among them. In another bit of fortuitous luck, he landed right next to a horse. Untying the horse from its post, Indy mounted it and gave it a powerful kick. The horse galloped away as soldier's appeared in the window Indy had just jumped out of. They began firing at him, so Indy directed the horse to run in a zigzag

As Indy rode around the corner and away from the villa, other soldiers ran out of the front door and began firing at him. He headed for the safety of the forest. Looking back, he saw soldiers piling into a car so they could chase after him.

Indiana directed the horse onto the trail that would lead him to his desired destination. He had a rendezvous set up with a biplane that was set to land in a nearby open field. The plane was supposed to fly in and wait for him, but it looked like things were going to be a little more adventurous then planned.

Weaving his way through the winding road, Indy saw the biplane flying overhead. Looking back, he saw the soldiers in the car bearing down on him. A couple of them had their rifles aimed at him and were firing, but they were too far away to hit him.

Indy broke out of the forest and raced into the field. He saw the biplane approaching for its landing. Indy waved at it and motioned for it to continue as it landed. He knew the only way he was going to get out safely was if he could hop onto the plane while it flew along the ground. He hoped the pilot would understand what he wanted.

As the pilot watched Indy, he touched down and then lifted the plane back up a couple feet. He understood what was happening. As Indy turned the horse and started running alongside the plane, he could see the pilot was looking past him and guessed he was looking at the car full of soldiers trailing him. Indy reached out and tried to grab on to the plane as he heard the sound of gunfire.

The pilot slowly inched the plane closer to Indy. When his hand was just inches from grabbing the beams of the wing, the horse was hit by a bullet and threw him off as it fell to the ground. To Indy's luck, it threw him in the direction of the plane, and he was able to grab a hold of a beam with one hand and hang off the edge of it.

For several seconds, Indy's legs were drug along the ground. He winced with the pain until the pilot lifted the plane up into the air. Once in the air, Indy slowly drug the rest of his body up onto the wing. As the plane ascended, the soldiers on the ground fired at them. A few bullets hit the plane, but caused no significant damage.

The plane was high up in the air and Indy could feel every bit of the chill winter air as he worked his way along the plane's wing. He tried not to look down or think about what would happen if he lost his grip. He focused on the safety of the seat awaiting him.

Indy made it to the plane's fuselage and jumped into the gunner's seat behind the pilot. He saw the pilot say something to him as he got in the seat, but he couldn't hear him over the rush of air and the roar of the engine. Facing the tail of his own plane, Indy spotted two German triplanes trying to catch up to them. He turned around and tapped the pilot on the shoulder. The pilot looked back and saw the planes following them and immediately took evasive action.

The pilot dove slightly and started flying erratically so the plane wouldn't be easy to hit. Indy heard a bullet or two buzz past them and saw the tail wing of the plane take a hit. He had the perfect seat to watch as the triplanes separated so each one could take a side. They flew out and then pointed their noses at the biplane. Indy could see the bullets flying through the sky as the Germans fired at them.

The pilot of the biplane started to climb, causing Indy to wonder what he was doing. He knew the triplane was superior to most other planes in climbing ability. He was going to yell at the pilot what he thought he was doing when the pilot yelled to him to get ready to fire the machine gun.

Indy took a good look at both planes pursuing them. They were pretty close now and he could see the faces of the pilots. They were close enough to get in a few good hits. Indy could see the bullet holes that were littering the plane's fuselage. He turned his gaze from them and back to the planes pursuing them. Indy felt the plane start to dive and he began firing at the triplane to his right. The pilot of the triplane Indy was firing at mistakenly turned into the line of fire and took a bullet to the head. Indy could see the blood splatter out of the cockpit seat. He turned his attention away from that plane as it fell to the ground.

The biplane started climbing again and the other triplane stopped its dive to follow. It was able to gain ground on them when it climbed and when the two planes straightened out their flight paths the German started firing.

Indy had a good shot at the triplane and began firing straight at its engine. The pilot of his plane was cutting back and forth, trying to make it hard for the German to hit them. Indy was getting some good shots in at the engine of the triplane. The pilot of the triplane was doing little to evade Indy's bullets as he was concentrating on doing what he could to hit the biplane. He was counting on the fact he could take down the biplane before he was taken out by Indy's bullets.

As the two planes flew around, Indy was able to keep his gun locked onto the triplane much better then the German could keep the American plane in its line of fire. The engine of the triplane slowly disintegrated as Indy hit it. After several direct hits, he saw sparks fly out of the engine and knew he had disabled it. The triplane wasn't able to follow them anymore and began falling to the ground.

Indy started cheering. He heard the pilot yell something but couldn't understand what it was. He leaned over so he could listen better and heard the pilot yell they were losing fuel.

Looking over the edge of his seat, he saw fuel leaking out of the plane. He looked to the ground and could see it approaching fast as the pilot descended to try an emergency landing before they ran out of gas. Indy turned around and asked the pilot where he thought he was going to land. The pilot pointed to a dirt road they were quickly approaching.

Indy looked around frantically for landmarks as he had no idea whether they were in enemy territory. He didn't recognize anything and asked the pilot if he knew where they were. He said he had no idea. As the ground approached, Indy was thankful they at least were at least going to be able to make a safe landing. The pilot bounced the plane twice as he brought it down on the dirt road. It slowed to a stop without incident.

The two of them looked around nervously as they tried to figure out where they might be. The pilot tapped him on the shoulder and pointed straight ahead at a car coming towards them. Indy leaned over and stared at the car. He couldn't make out anything and was beginning to wonder if he should run to the nearby forest just in case. He immediately put the thought out of his mind as he was never one to run and hide. If they were still in German territory, he would just have to fight his way out.

Indy stared hard at the approaching car and his emotions brightened as he saw what looked like an American flag waving from the car. It got closer and he could hear hooting and hollering and see the distinct American military uniforms the boys in the car were wearing. The car slowed to a stop in front of them and Indy smiled as it became crystal clear the car was full of young American soldiers.

Indy ran out to greet them, "I'm Colonel Henry Jones and I have some important information for the American military leadership. I need to get to the nearest base."

The soldiers all looked a little puzzled. "What information do they need?" one of them asked. "Did you find the German's secret plans for surrendering?"

Everyone in the car got a good laugh out of the joke. Indiana, however, was not amused. "There is a war going on and I have important information that could save lives of your fellow soldier's. I need to get to American HQ now."

The soldier's were unfazed by what he said and this just angered Indy even more. "But the war's over," one of them finally said. "We just received word less then an hour ago. A cease fire was agreed to."

Indy was both overjoyed and dumbfounded at the news. Minutes ago, he was running away from a car full of German soldier's and dodging their bullets in an airplane. Now he found out it was all for naught because the cease fire had been agreed to. Despite that, he was joyous the war was over and there would be no more fighting.

"Wa-hoo," he heard the pilot behind him yell.

"Now there's a guy who wants to celebrate," one of the soldiers in the car yelled back. "Have some of this," he said to the guy as he threw him a bottle of liquor. The pilot took it and started downing it. He drank so much he left just a tiny amount for anyone else.

The driver of the car spoke up and offered an invitation to the other two. "We're heading to a nearby town full of taverns and loose women to celebrate the end. We figure the women there will be anxious to sleep with a winner."

"Especially one who doesn't call her Fraulein," the soldier in the passenger seat added. Everyone got a good laugh out of his joke. "Maybe we can help improve the gene pool of the French," he added.

"You two want to come along?" the driver asked them. The pilot ran and jumped into the car without saying anything. Indy thought for a second about whether he should go or not. He still had the secret battle plans on him, and he felt like he should still see the mission through. The thought quickly occurred to him the plans were useless now and everyone else would be celebrating. He should to.


End file.
